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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23275171">The stray</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkswirl95/pseuds/Inkswirl95'>Inkswirl95</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ficlets, oneshots, and ideas oh my! [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Homelessness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:49:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,342</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23275171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkswirl95/pseuds/Inkswirl95</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when Black comes across a human passed out on a street bench and is forced to take home with him, where Red, Fell, and his own brother Mutt live?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Black (Swapfell Sans)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ficlets, oneshots, and ideas oh my! [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673233</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Lost human</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The evening air was getting chilly. Black pulled his jacket closer to him while, even though the cold didn’t affect his bones, it affected his magic. He didn’t need to be sick at a time like this, having bought groceries for the household, since he was the closest one to the house after work. Even though his car was fixed, he decided to walk. He didn’t realize how fast the clouds were coming in, but was pushing through anyway. He had to protect his image, so he wouldn’t be reduced to admitting he needed a lift home.</p><p>He was caught off guard, seeing someone curled up on a bench on the sidewalk near the bus station. He looked around, no one else was there… At the moment. He knew some of the monsters from his world could get rowdy, so he grumbled, knowing that if he left the human there alone that the others would get on his tail bone about it.</p><p>He made his way over to them, setting the groceries down. “Human, wake up!” he demanded, lightly kicking the bench, “This is no place for a nap, go home!” he decided to be firm about it, scowling. He relaxed as the human seemed to be getting up, only for her to turn and grab onto his waist, mumbling, making him yelp. “HUMAN! I DEMAND YOU LET ME GO THIS INSTANT!” he yelled at her, and no his face was not burning with a blush, it was the damn cold weather!</p><p>“Five more minutes…” she mumbled, dozing off again, though now keeping a hold onto Black, who growled. He tried to pry her hands off, but nothing was working, well unless he wanted to maim her, but he didn’t, she was just tired. He sighed, bringing out his phone, soon calling Mutt, “Hey, Mutt, come here now, I need your help,” he said before his brother could get a word in. Soon enough, his brother ported to where Black was, blinking at the sight.</p><p>“Do not say anything, and get us home, now, we can’t return her like this,” he said simply, not meeting Mutt’s smirk, denying the satisfaction of seeing his scowl.</p><p>Mutt shrugged, picking up the bag, “whatever you say bro,” and soon ported the three of them to the house, setting Black and the human on the couch, “i’ll just leave you and your stray here and put away the groceries, yeah?” he said in a sing-song voice, knowing Black was fuming and already thinking of a way of payback for this.</p><p>Black sighed, grateful none of the others were home yet, as he looked down at the sleeping human, who was still cuddling herself into his side, sleeping peacefully. He saw her SOUL was green, Kindness waved off her, though there were some cracks in it as well.</p><p>He knew how some monsters and humans could be, and wasn’t about to let this innocent human get hurt. He promised himself, and more importantly Queen Toriel, that no more humans would be harmed if he could help it.</p><p>And so, being reluctantly trapped as he was, he got the tv remote and turned it on, keeping the volume down, letting the human sleep. It was all he could do at the moment.</p><p>A couple of hours later, the door opened again, and in came Red, who took a quick picture with his phone, laughing, “Holy shit, you really do have a stray with ya!” he said, smirking and easily dodging the bone that flew past his skull from Black.</p><p>“Shut your trap, she’s only here until she can go home on her own, now keep it down,” he hissed at his other version, thinking of a most suitable punishment for his brother, who he heard snickering from the kitchen.</p><p>Red smirked, sitting down off to the other end of the room, “whatever, did you even find out her name yet?” he asked, turning his attention to the TV, not wanting to spend more in case Black threw another bone at him.</p><p>Black shook his head, “She’s been moving so much that I can’t keep track,” he said, frowning as the human turned again.</p><p>That’s when she finally opened her eyes, blinking the sleep out of them, and froze. “Oh my God, where am I?” was her first thought, before she noticed she was hanging onto something. Or, rather, someone, looking up to see a skeleton glaring at her. She squeaked, quickly backing away, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to grab onto you sir!” she quickly squeaked out, falling off the couch and groaning, hearing another person laugh at her expense.</p><p>“Finally, you’re up! Why were you asleep on a freaking bench?” Black asked before Red could say anything, standing to his full height. Which wasn’t all that much taller than her, but it was still intimidating, the way he saw it.</p><p>She looked down, embarrassed by the whole situation, “Uh… I… I was getting back to the homeless shelter after work…” she said quietly, looking down. He and Red paused.</p><p>Shit… Black really did bring home a stray.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Found home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The human makes her way into the boys' life and does as she can to repay them. What happens when she suddenly announces she found somewhere to go?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“L-look, I’m sorry again for getting into this mess, is there any way I can make this up to you?” The woman said, looking positively distraught that she brought such a burden on these skeletons that she didn’t even know. She wasn’t disgusted by them though, they could see she had a bit of spark in her eye.</p><p>“Your name,”</p><p>She looked a bit startled, looking at Black, “Um… I’m sorry…?” she asked, quietly.</p><p>“Tell us your name,” he said, only now seeing how thin she looked from not eating enough.</p><p>“O-oh, um, I’m…” she said her name quietly, looking away, putting a hand up to her hair in a nervous tick. Just what did they have planned for her?</p><p>“Stay here, we have to talk,” Black commanded her, pointing to the couch before dragging Mutt and being followed by Red to one of the rooms, using magic to put soundproof the room so she couldn’t hear.</p><p>“So, she’s yer stray, what do you want to do?” Red asked, earning him a glare from Black.</p><p>“She is not a ‘stray’ Red, she is a human. With no home to go to, mind you,” he said pointedly, referring to when they had just started out in this world, the only ones who could understand each other it seemed. “I was going to say we should at least let her stay here until she gets back on her feet, if nothing more,” he said, folding his arms in a huff.</p><p>Mutt nodded, agreeing with him, “Wait, you know Boss will have a fit if we made a decision like this without him. I should at least get him on a call with us.” Red mentioned, taking out his phone.</p><p>Black knew he was right, so he nodded to him, Red soon putting the phone on speaker, “Hey, Boss, there’s a bit of a situation here,” he told him once Edge picked up.</p><p>“Oh god, what did you do this time?” Edge said, irritated that his commute home was interrupted, having been in a car but pulling over to obey traffic laws.</p><p>“It was me this time, I saw a human sleeping on a bench, and when I tried waking her up she latched onto me. I had no choice but to have Mutt bring us back, but when she woke up, she told us she was homeless,” Black explained, cutting off Red who gave a humph, but let it slide.</p><p>“What the hell? What do you plan on doing with her?” Edge could already make a strong guess but needed to hear it for himself.</p><p>“We were planning on letting her stay, at least until she got back on her feet. You know how dangerous the homeless shelters are because of the monsters there,” Black was quick to remind the skeleton on the other line, feeling a fairly new crack in his skull from his own scuffle from a cocky young monster who thought could take them all on.</p><p>Edge groaned, leaning his head back on the back of his seat, “Black, where the hell is she even going to sleep? We only have two rooms,” he asked, staring up at the roof of his car.</p><p>“Me and Mutt’ll go get a mattress for her, plus she said she already has work for herself, so we won’t need to worry about feeding her,” he said, taking the phone from Red, since he was doing all the talking anyway, as it always ended.</p><p>Edge sighed, “Fine, but you’ll be taking care of anything else she needs,” he said, “Now, I’m almost back home, so I’m going to hang up now.”</p><p>“Right, right, see you then,” Black said, soon hanging up and handing the phone back to Red, “Keep an eye on her, we’re going to go get a mattress somewhere,” he said, soon heading out with them both.</p><p>“Right now? But it’s late and getting cold,” Mutt commented, whining a bit.</p><p>“She is not staying with any of us in our beds, Mutt,” Black snapped back, making the woman look up at them, confused. “Look, it’s not safe, especially for a Kindness SOUL like you to be going to a homeless shelter right now. So until you can get a place of your own, you’re staying here,” Black said, no, more like ordered the human, who paused, squeaking a bit.</p><p>“W-what? N-n-no, it’s okay, really! I thank you for the offer, but-”</p><p>“It wasn’t an offer hun, so just sit back and relax, we’ll go over the ground rules when we’re all here,” Mutt told her, patting her on the head, frowning a bit, “Red, let her take a shower, her hair’s all greasy,” he said, going and waiting by the door for Black.</p><p>The woman looked very confused, before Black took her hand, quickly shutting her up, “Look. We can’t let you go out there with a clear conscious. So, let us help you. Please.” he looked her straight in the eye.</p><p>“… Thank you… But… I just, don’t understand why…” she said, almost too quietly to hear, tears running down her cheeks. Black frowned, before gently pushing her to Red.</p><p>“Get washed up, we’ll be back before long,” he told her without looking back, letting Mutt port them to the nearest and cheapest mattress store.</p><p>All the while they were looking for a mattress suitable for her, Mutt seemed to have a smirk on his face, making Black scowl at his brother, “What are you so happy about, Mutt?”</p><p>“You can’t fool me, she’s yer SOULMATE, isn’t she?” he smirked, which made Black growl, turning to him to give back a retort, but stopped himself. He knew he felt the pull, but refused to acknowledge it, instead turning back on his heel and finding a mattress, paying for it up front.</p><p>Once they were all back at the house, the girl having had a chance to wash up, Edge and Black gave her some ground rules. She would clean up after herself, take care of herself, and would not be allowed into any of their rooms unless they allowed it.</p><p>She agreed to it all, and so the next few weeks they had started their new routine. She had insisted on waking up early enough to make breakfast for all of them, as well as cleaning the kitchen for them while they were gone. She began to patch up her clothes since she could now afford the thread and needles to do so.</p><p>Each day Black knew he was getting softer and softer about her, but couldn’t help it. The way he could get lost in her eyes, or the way she hummed to songs while she thought no one could hear them. Even when she managed to get Red and Mutt to play some video games with her made her all the more irresistible.</p><p>But it seemed she had not noticed the growing pull on both of their Souls yet. He wasn’t sure if he wanted her to or not.</p><p>Months went by, she had wiggled her way into each of their hearts, somewhat melting all of their icy walls that encased their emotions.</p><p>One day though, she called them all to the kitchen, having had cleaned up very nicely. “Look, I was so happy to have been living here with you all and so very grateful for you to take me in. So, now I have a surprise,” she said, soon pulling out some papers. “I finally found a place-” before she could finish, Black had taken the apartment lease from her hands, tearing it up, making her gasp. “Black, what are you-”</p><p>“What don’t you understand, woman?! Your home is here with us now!” He blurted out, pausing. But relaxed slightly when the others nodded their heads.</p><p>“you’ve been so sweet to us, we couldn’t possibly think of letting you leave now, Darlin,”</p><p>“Who would go out and prank with me? You’re too much fun to have around,”</p><p>“Besides, not to mention you are a very big help around the house and with our income, there’s no way we’d give you up,”</p><p>She blinked, looking at them all. Black sighed, taking her hands into his, “Look, you’ve just been fitting into our, well I guess ‘family’, so well that we all want you to stay… Especially me, you are an amazing person,” he said, pulling her close to him, laying his head on hers, looking into her eyes. He saw now that she realized what her connection was to him, making her blush that stupidly perfect blush, her eyes shining with tears of joy.</p><p>She smiled so wide it hurt, she was so happy to have finally found a home she could call her own. “Okay… I’ll stay as long as you’ll all have me,” she said, holding onto Black, excited to start her new life with them, not only as a house guest now but as family.</p>
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